Brent Duckor

A guide for educators seeking to strengthen their role as designers of meaningful learning experiences and stewards of ambitious, equitable practice in an increasingly AI-mediated world As artificial intelligence (AI) tools rapidly reshape K–12 classrooms, teachers, leaders, parents, and policymakers confront urgent questions: What counts as learning when machines can generate fluent essays, summarize complex texts, and simulate understanding? How do we distinguish between interactive learning—where students engage in productive struggle, reflection, and growth—and interpassive learning, an emerging phenomenon where cognitive effort is delegated to technology in ways that undercut student development? AI and Deeper Learning advances a research-based framework for responsible uses of AI in classrooms. Drawing on the work of John Dewey, Lev Vygotsky, and other scholars in the sociocultural tradition, Brent Michael Duckor and Carrie Holmberg revisit foundational debates about learner development, the nature of learning, and the purposes of education. Arguing that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift in teaching and learning, the authors offer new directions for addressing paradoxes of instruction with AI-focused practices. Through vivid classroom examples highlighting teacher dilemmas, the book introduces five pillars—Accuracy, Agency, Accessibility, Assessment, and Authenticity—as an integrated framework for guiding ethical, human-centered, and instructionally meaningful AI practice in schools. Across the chapters, readers encounter teachers and students confronting AI hallucinations, the erosion of student voice, automated versus authentic feedback, and the outsourcing of productive struggle in the learning process, among other tensions. The book's practical design principles encourage educators to use their pedagogical judgment and make principled decisions about whether, when, or how AI belongs in the learning process. It provides guiding questions, reflective exercises, and resources that help K–12 teachers, professional learning communities, and teacher educators design instruction that cultivates deeper learning and ambitious teaching in AI-mediated classrooms.

Put feedback to work for everyone to make a difference—now Feedback connects, deepens communication, and helps everyone focus on advancing student learning. What if you could use the dimensions and facets of formative feedback in ways that emphasize authenticity, equity, and care for ALL students? Educators Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg show you how to plan, enact, and reflect on feedback practices within lessons and across units using an accessible, comprehensive, and innovative framework that illuminates the path towards equity and excellence for all. With evidence-based research and real classroom examples, Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom answers: What is formative feedback? How does it influence student outcomes and teacher pedagogy?Why are well-defined learning goals, aligned with rich tasks and progress guides, essential to making feedback truly formative?What are essential facets of teacher, peer, and self-driven feedback?How does feedback work best in whole-class, small group, or individual configurations?What can make written, spoken, and nonverbal feedback modalities more effective—for all?How can focusing on feedback improve learning across all subject matter disciplines? Prompts for self-reflection, videos, vignettes, and scaffolds throughout help readers see how effective feedback can be embedded into classrooms and school communities committed to discovery, growth, and deeper learning.

How do you know if students are with you at the beginning, middle, and end of a lesson? Can formative assessment offer a key to better teaching and learning during instruction? What if you could blend different formative assessment moves in your classroom, with intention and care for all students, to help make better instructional decisions on the fly and enjoy more teachable moments?Educators Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg invite you on the journey to becoming a formative assessor. They encourage you to focus on these seven research-based, high-leverage formative assessment moves:Priming—building on background knowledge and creating a formative assessment-rich, equitable classroom culture.Posing—asking questions in relation to learning targets across the curriculum that elicit Habits of Mind.Pausing—waiting after powerful questions and rich tasks to encourage more student responses by supporting them to think aloud and use speaking and listening skills related to academic language.Probing—deepening discussions, asking for elaborations, and making connections using sentence frames and starters. Bouncing—sampling student responses systematically to broaden participation, manage flow of conversation, and gather more ""soft data"" for instructional use.Tagging—describing and recording student responses without judgment and making public how students with different styles and needs approach learning in real-time.Binning—interpreting student responses with a wide range of tools, categorizing misconceptions and ""p-prims"" and using classroom generated data to make more valid and reliable instructional decisions on next steps in the lesson and unit.Each chapter explores a classroom-tested move, including foundational research, explaining how and when to best use it, and describing what it looks like in practice. Highlights include case studies, try-now tasks and tips, and advice from beginning and seasoned teachers who use these formative assessment moves in their classrooms.